Jeanie Forrester: Meredith voters to decide whether to change top job from manager to admin

The Feb. 2, Meredith Selectboard discussions included space needs for Town Hall staff, 2026 budget information and warrant articles.

The town contracted with an architectural firm to conduct a space needs analysis of administrative offices and present recommendations to the selectboard. The firm presented two alternatives. The first is a renovation and addition to the current buildings (Town Hall and Annex) with 7,784 square feet of usable space at a cost of $14M and taking 16-18 months for completion. The second is a new, 12,300-square-foot building located adjacent to the police station on Route 3 for $8.1M, with construction over 12 months. This is just the first of many steps before any decision is made, and residents will have an opportunity to weigh in.

Our director of administrative services advised the board that at year-end there was an additional $960,000 available for other uses. This consists of $500,000 in unexpended appropriations (unfilled positions, variances in benefits and insurance and a spending freeze pending union arbitration) and $460,000 from the sale of tax-deeded properties. The town manager recommended placing an article on the warrant to put the $960,000 into the Community Infrastructure Expendable Trust Fund with the intent to use up to $360,000 for the final engineering of the Main Street project and up to $600,000 for the engineering of the Town Hall project. The selectboard will decide at their next meeting.

There are multiple warrant articles to consider at Town Meeting such as the usual expendable trust fund articles (e.g., Waterfront Infrastructure, Fire Department Equipment Replacement, Department of Public Works Equipment, etc.). New articles for residents to consider will include allowing games of chance (Keno), an increase in the Land Use Change Tax, and a veterans service-connected disabled credit.

Keno was first legalized in New Hampshire in 2017, and towns had to opt in to allow it. Meredith chose not to opt in at that time. New Hampshire law now requires a municipality to opt out of Keno, otherwise it becomes automatically permitted. There will be a public hearing on Keno at the Monday, Feb. 23, selectboard meeting.

The Current Use Program provides a tax incentive to qualifying landowners who maintain their land as undeveloped. When land changes to a non-qualifying use (i.e., the land is developed), a one-time land use change tax is assessed based on current market value. Currently, the first $50,000 collected automatically goes to conservation activities to protect important open space, conserve natural resources, and retain rural character. A request was made to increase the conservation allocation from $50,000 (established over 40 years ago) to $100,000.

Until recently there were two tax credits (a $4,000 credit and a $500 credit) available to Meredith veterans that could be combined to claim a total credit of $4,500. The Legislature just passed a law that prohibits combining the two credits. The warrant article seeks to increase the Service-Connected Total and Permanent Disabled Veterans Tax Credit from $4,000 to $4,500, thereby making up for the loss of the Optional Veterans Tax Credit ($500) for disabled veterans. There are 31 property owners receiving this credit now.

There will also be three petitioned advisory articles for residents to consider: 1) asking the Legislature to ensure adequate state revenues for essential services; 2) confirming that school budget decisions should remain with local voters rather than be restricted by statewide spending cap; and 3) replacing the current town manager form of government with a town administrator form of government.

The next meeting of the selectboard is Monday, Feb. 23.

Important dates:

• Town Election: 7 a.m.-7 p.m., Tuesday, March 10, at Meredith Community Center
• Town Meeting: 7 p.m., Wednesday, March 11, at Inter-Lakes High School

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Jeanie Forrester serves on the Meredith Selectboard.